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On guard

Meteoric is how one could describe the rise in Indian civil aviation over the last four-odd years. Aviation conferences, seminars, talks, discussions, all hovered around a single point - there is no stopping the boom in India's civil aviation sector.

But one wonders amidst all the action whether we are over-reacting. There are a few aviation experts who have chosen to guard their words and restrict their comments on the future of Indian aviation. They are concerned about the sudden and breakneck growth and feel that too much too quick could be risky.

It is a known fact that most airlines in India today are bleeding and the recent trend has shown that consolidations, mergers and buy-outs have helped bail out the terminally ill. Simultaneously, the infrastructure has failed to keep pace with the boom. These have been the primary reasons for investors to hesitate.

This was well reflected at the South Asia Aviation Finance Conference (SAAFiC) 2008 held in Mumbai. Leading investors, both national and international, were part of SAAFiC and the general feedback in the corridors was that most of them are playing wait-and-watch, hoping that infrastructure will improve and consolidations will happen to bring in greater stability.

There is ebulliency on the supplier side too and aircraft manufacturers, be it Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, ATR or Embraer, are upbeat about the India market.

There are many opportunities with tremendous possibilities - the SAARC region, which can prove to be a very lucrative business opportunity and activate tremendous amount of business if tapped well, multi-nodal airports that can help ease congestion and improve passenger experience. What is required is for us to be on guard and capture every possibility whizzing by.

Reema Sisodia
Associate Editor
editorial.etw@expressindia.com